[AUCTeX] Re: Preview-latex temporaty files

[Leo]

On 2009-03-12 09:41 +0000, David Kastrup wrote:
> Ralf Angeli <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> * adam (2009-03-10) writes:
>>
>>> is it possible to put _all_ temporary files generated by preview-latex into
>>> defined somehow in .emacs directory (for example ~/.auctex/prev_tmp/)?
>>
>> AFAICS, no.  It is hardcoded to create the directory where the master
>> file resides.
>>
>> Perhaps we should be more agressive when cleaning (and removing) the
>> directory when exiting Emacs.  Does anybody know why the file
>> <master>.prv/.../preview.ps is kept on exit?
>
> If it is, this is likely a bug.  The idea is complete cleanup unless
> errors occured.

I think what is wanting in preview is a way to keep the preview images
persistent across reopening files (or even better, across restarting
emacs). Generating the previews is time-consuming, in particular for a
big document. I find it counter-productive every time the file is
reopened, previews have to be regenerated. Maybe the way I work with
preview is wrong. I wonder why nobody else has noticed this issue, it is
productivity killer for me.

One thing that preview can be extremely helpful is in math. Directly
typing the math formulae is easy (even easier than using a gui equation
editor), however editing it is a nightmare because I doubt most people
will be able to figure out what the formula is by staring at the
LaTeX/TeX code for a moderate complex one. But knowing that the previews
will be gone if the file is closed, I usually just recompile the file to
save time. (but you can imagine, if one can pick those complex formulae
and turn them into previews and if they can survive reopening files, how
much more efficient it will be.)

Fortunately, branching in git is cheap. I now create a local branch for
the chapter I am working on, make changes so that only that chapter is
produced in the output to somewhat avoid recompile the whole project
each time.

-- 
.:  Leo  :.  [ sdl.web AT gmail.com ]  .: I use Emacs :.

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